Egypt’s revolution was not an entirely digital affair. Clara Tait meets the satirical cartoonists at the leading edge of social change.

If you want to know what Cairenes are thinking, pick up a copy of monthly review Tok Tok. Named after the three-wheeled minicars found in poorer parts of the Egyptian capital, it provides insights into social and political realities, everyday challenges in the ‘new’ Egypt, as well as  burkhas, boob jobs and army tanks.

Launched 10 days before the revolution of January 25, the magazine has been called the ‘voice of the people’ by Egyptian media. Now, as its sixth issue hits the newsstands in October, the wider world is taking notice, and founder and cartoonist Mohammed Shennawy has been invited to speak at this month’s Algerian International Comic Festival.

Tok Tok uses sharp satire to refract the mood on the streets which, despite the topping of the Mubarak regime, remains tense. One clear benefit of the revolution was the ending of the sort of heavy-handed censorship that led, in 2009, to a court case against fellow cartoonist Magdy El Shafee, author of the outspoken graphic novel ‘Metro’. ‘“Metro” was a huge inspiration for [authors of] comic books,’ says Shennawy. ‘The fact that the government deemed the novel worthy of such stringent censorship only made us more interested!

‘We are freely drawing Mubarak, corrupt businessmen and state security officials. All these things you couldn’t draw before; now we can draw them freely.’ Comics are a powerful mode of expression in a country were nearly 17 million people cannot read or write (according to recent government data) and where – even if social media played a role in the ‘Arab spring’ – only a tiny elite own computers and smartphones.

Shennawy started Tok Tok with a group of friends, drawing most of the cartoons themselves. When their first issue sold out in two hours, they realised they had hit on something big. Many of the contributors are political caricaturists working at newspapers, but in Tok Tok they are free to be leftfield, poking fun at all elements of Egyptian society while touching on lots of controversial topics. One comic strip, for instance, shows a gang of giggling teenage girls in burkhas, posing in front of a tank in Tahrir Square as their friends snap away on their iPhones and digital cameras.

Sexual harassment of young women, widespread in Egypt, has hitherto been a taboo subject. Another shows a Papa Smurf-like figure abandoning an entire country of little Smurfs, who are left scratching their heads about the future. But Tok Tok is not about trivialising the revolution. Shennawy believes Egypt’s burgeoning comic book scene is fast becoming a channel for Egyptians to express their concerns that the revolution hasn’t changed society enough.

‘Every Friday, people still gather in Tahrir Square to protest a demand that has not been met by the new government, but I want to protest in different ways. This is comic realism at its most potent.’ Tok Tok’s mix of intellectual humour and home truths has gained it a cultish following in Egypt, where comics for children have a long history as both educational tools and vehicles for entertainment. ‘We wanted Tok Tok to be a place for more sophisticated comics to flourish,’ says Shennawy. ‘The generation that grew up reading comics are now making their own.’

TokTok. Full details of the Algerian International Comics Festival at www.bdalger.net. ‘Metro’ will be published in English by US imprint Metropolitan Books in early 2012.